Roller coaster (saving hope/Joel Goran)

Chapter 1

First day.

Charlotte stalked the halls of the hospital very nervously. Her hair tied up in a tight ponytail that rested on her left shoulder.

'Okay that's doctor Reid' she thought to herself, trying to recall the names of the doctors she passed 'Doctor Raycraft, Doctor Kinney'

She nodded her head as she passed them as if she was counting them. She was on her way to her first consult in ICU with a man called

"Dr Goran?" She asked as she approached

He turned around at the mention of his name "that's me"

Wow. The sight temporarily stunned her for a second. "Um I'm going to be doing the surgery with you" she shook her head and tried to get back into reality.

"You're new" he observed, stretching his arm out to shake hers.

"Yeah" she blushed slightly as she shook his hand "I heard you're very talented"

"You heard correct" he smiled; showing her his incredibly white teeth. Modest much? "I've heard rumours that you've got hands of steel"

"You heard correct" she mimicked his accent lifting her hands up and wiggling her fingers "these bad boys attached someone's hand the other month" she laughed

"Incredible; well you need to work that magic again on our next patient" he commented, beginning to walk with Charlotte jogging closely behind "what's your name?"

"Oh; sorry I forgot, I'm Charlotte Carter" she smiled "or Dr. Carter but I prefer Charlotte, or Charlie. I'm sorry am I babbling?"

He stopped at the curtain and turned around, giving her a smile "I don't mind" he said before pulling at the curtain to show a patient with a bandage around his hand.

"This is Jonathan Craner" he said loudly looking at Charlotte and then back to the patient "this is Dr Carter, she'll be assisting me with the surgery today"

Charlotte nodded and smiled at the almost comatosed man. She took a good guess that he's probably just being sedated.

A few other men began to walk in and grab the sides of the bed to wheel him down to the operating room.

"You've prepped the hand I assume?" She asked Joel, trying to keep up with him again

"Yes, everything seems fine" he informed her

"And how long do we have until the hand completely dies?" She asked another question

Joel glanced at his watch and then back up to see where he was going. The pair turned a corner, following the bed "about 8 hours; you can do that"

"I can do that" she smiled confidently to herself "I've done it in less time, it's just giving me more time to be precise"

"Fantastic" he commented

"What actually happened to the patient? Everything's so fast paced plus I missed the briefing" she raised her eyebrows and they entered the area.

"Factory work; got his hand caught in a machine and it just yanked it right off" Joel summarised an hour of a boring meeting "maybe it's best for you to go to briefing next time" he winked

"I would have; but I don't know where it is and when it was" Charlotte tied her cap on, placed her mask over her mouth and rinsed her hands.

Two people were waiting for her to slip her arms through the apron as she entered the room. Her arms raised slightly to prevent any germs transferring onto her gloves.

"He's all yours" Joel said, wheeling his chair back after a while and allowing Charlotte to jump in.

She put her eyes closer and looked through the microscope. She used the small tweezers and began to sew the arteries and vessels back together.

"Come on" she quickly pep talked herself as she struggled to get the last few arteries back together.

Her hands stayed as steady as possible, even though Joel watched closely behind her. She didn't know if he was intrigued, or admiring. Or maybe even criticising.

"Done" Charlotte lifted her hands up and looked away from the microscope "increase blood flow and check if they work"

The woman nodded her head and they all watched closely.

"Well done" everybody started clapping and praising Charlotte for her hard work.

"Not bad for the first day" Joel nudged her. The crinkle in his eye showed her that he was smiling.

"I'll stitch this up, you can go ahead" anther Doctor told her and Joel.

The pair walked out of the door and de scrubbed.

Charlotte ran her fingers through her pony tale "I have a serious case of post hat hair" she laughed.

They waited outside of the OR and watched the patient get wheeled out. Followed by the other members of the surgery team.

"Well done newbie" one called, all of them coming over to congratulate her.

"That was incredible" Joel finally said when the crowd went quiet

"I told you; I'm like a God when it comes to this stuff" Charlotte showed her hands again "steady as a rock"

"How about we all celebrate?" The man Charlotte knew as Doctor Raycraft piped up "Charlotte's place at 7"

"Wait" she laughed as everyone cheered in agreement "you don't even know where I live"

"Okay write it down on a piece of paper for us" he slipped a blank sheet towards her "the food is on you"

The crew members all filtered out of the room, leaving Joel and Charlotte alone again.

Charlotte had her mouth open in shock. "I can't believe Raycraft invited half the hospital to my apartment" she spoke

"It's Raycraft" Joel laughed to himself "you'll have to get used to him, he's now the chief surgical resident"

"And he's getting the food bill from me" she laughed, looking at Joel "I suppose I'll be seeing you there?"

"You're right" Joel bent down a bit and patted her on the back.

"I wonder what Harry will say about that" she mumbled to herself

"Who's Harry?" Joel turned around and asked

"He's my boyfriend" she said with a monotone expression "he doesn't really like parties, or anything like that"

She had a boyfriend. Although Joel wasn't the relationship type of guy, he wanted to see if Charlotte would be good for him. Just recently he's been pining for something a bit different than his usual one night stands.

"Trouble on the rocks?" Joel asked

"Something like that" Charlotte shrugged "we're like childhood sweethearts, so I just try and fight for our relationship" she smiled, glancing down at her watch.

"Damn, I have a consult" she said picking up her iPad in a hurry

"Who with?" Joel asked, walking out of the room with her

"Doctor Alex Reid" she read the name off the paper.

Alex. The main reason for Joel's one night stands, the main reason he didn't want any type of relationship with anyone else but Alex. But he screwed up and now she's with Charlie.

"She's nice" Joel commented "anyway, I'm going this way. It was lovely to meet you Charlotte and I'll see you at 7"

He started speed walking down the corridor. "Make sure you bring some beer" Charlotte shouted behind him.

Joel kept walking but turned around; so he walked backwards. He winked at her, and clicked his teeth to show her that he will.

Charlotte hugged her iPad close to her chest, swinging around like a teenage girl.

The first day didn't go that bad after all.